Injury Compensation News

A Tesco’s security guard, who suffered post traumatic stress after being trapped in a lift at their Dundrum Shopping Centre Store in Dublin, has been awarded 13,500 Euros in a court action against the company.
Judge Joseph Matthews heard in the Circuit Civil Court how William Murphy (27) of Ashford, County Wicklow, had been one of a number of people trapped between floors in a lift for almost an hour in September 2006.
Due to the lack of oxygen, heat and humidity, Mr Murphy had been overcome with fear while awaiting rescue by the fire service, and had subsequently been off from work with a stress related illness for several weeks. Mr Murphy still experiences feelings of panic when in lifts and confined spaces.
In the action brought against Tesco Ireland Ltd and Byrne Lifts Ltd, Millennium Business Park, Dublin, the court heard that once the doors of the lift had closed, the lift dropped suddenly and then jerked to a stop – trapping the group of people inside for between 45 and 60 minutes.
Judge Matthews found in favour of the claimant, stating that he was satisfied that the lift had not been overloaded and that the problem had been caused by over-speeding. He accepted that over-heating in the hydraulic system had triggered an emergency safety cut-out, and that the accident could have been prevented with the implementation of a cooling system.

Circuit Court President, Mr Justice Matthew Deery, heard in the Civil Court how two-year-old Katie Campbell, of Ratoath, County Meath, suffered years of post traumatic stress after a near miss in a toyshop. Katie, now seven, had been visiting the Smyths Toys shop in the Airside Retail Park, Swords, County Dublin, with her father, when a bicycle fell directly in her path from a shelf 14 feet above her head. Although sustaining no injuries, the court heard how subsequent to the event Katie started to suffer nightmares and showing signs of anxiety. The court was then told that Katie had been referred by her GP to a consultant child psychologist, who diagnosed her as having post traumatic stress based on her hypersensitivity to sudden, loud noises and an unwillingness to play with other children. Smyths Toys Ltd had offered the amount of 10,000 Euros as compensation, but as with all settlements for child injury, the award had to be approved in court.

Circuit Court President, Mr Justice Matthew Deery, commented that it “must have been a terrifying experience for all concerned” as he approved a compensation payment of 13,000 Euros for nervous shock to Chloe McDonagh of Navan, County Meath.
The settlement was in respect of Chloe witnessing her father being trapped in a funfair bungee ride that went terribly wrong at Blackrock, County Dublin in 2003 when Chloe was just five years of age. As the transparent sphere was launched into the air, one of the supporting elasticated straps snapped, causing the sphere to swing wildly around and buffet Mr McDonagh and a fellow fun-seeker against the inside of their capsule.
Fearing that her father was about to die on the funfair attraction, Chloe, who was watching the event with her mother Jacqueline, became hysterical and collapsed with fright. Both parents and the little girl were treated in hospital for shock after Mr McDonagh had been rescued by emergency services, but Chloe continued to have nightmares for a further year.
The offer of compensation had been made by Manchester company Funpark Nederlands and, as with all child injury compensation settlements, had to be approved in court. Chloe, who is now twelve years of age, was represented by her mother in the action and has now fully recovered from her ordeal.

Denise Blatt has won her discrimination case against the Comfort Inn Parnell Square hotel owned by  Palmece Ltd where she was a general manager prior to being selected for redundancy. It was alleged in court that the Ms Blatt was treated less favourably during two pregnanacies over a period of a year and eight months and then was selected for redundancy because she was pregnant. It was claimed Blatt was awarded pay rises and bonuses prior to informing her company that she was pregnant, after which she received a formal letter pointing out flaws in her work. Ms Blatt developed high blood pressure during her pregnancy and blamed her work environment.

Palmece Ltd was not represented in court and the evidence was not contested.

Ms Blatt was awarded €50,000 in compensation for discrimination and €50,000 in compensation for victimisation.

Joan Noone has been awarded €42,000 in damages against the Setanta House Hotel, Celbridge, County Kildare, after her reception was disrupted by a collapsed ceiling. Luckily there were no serious injuries.

Ms. Noone from Maynooth, County Kildare, was very upset by the incident and cancelled her honeymoon. She was in shock for some days after the accident and claimed she suffered post traumatic stress afterwards.

The case was heard by Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill, who assessed for damages as the hotel admitted liability.
The groom, Michael Noone, and five wedding guests, are also due to have compensation cases heard soon. It is not known how many of the 129 wedding guests have started compensation proceedings against the hotel.

Three siblings of a 14-year-old girl, Jennifer Hoban, who died of injuries resulting from being struck by a bus, have accepted an undisclosed settlement from Dublin Bus.

Jennifer Hoban was struck by a bus while crossing Killinarden Way in Tallaght on November 5th, 1997 and died shortly afterward from her injuries.   Her two brothers and sister, who are now adults, suffered prolonged grief following the accident.   A case was taken against Dublin Bus through the children’s father, Thomas Hoban, for compensation damages for psychiatric injury.

Dublin Bus made the settlement without admitting liability.

Garreth Quinn of Clondalkin, County Dublin, has been awarded €25,000 in the Circuit Civil Court yesterday for a needle injury sustained on a bus seat. The incident happened in February 2005 when Quinn sat down on the 78A at the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre terminus, sustaining a needle injury to his leg from a syringe.  The bus driver immediately called an ambulance, which brought him to a hospital. Although tests on the syringe did not find any contamination, it was still deemed prudent to undergo blood tests and inoculations.  It took 3 years before it could be guaranteed that Quinn was not infected with hepatitis B or hepatitis C.

The bus accident claim was taken against Dublin Bus.  Judge Joseph Mathews found that visual inspections by Dublin Dub staff were not sufficient and that crevices in seats on buses should be probed for needles and syringes.  The injury compensation award consisted of €15,000 for suffering to date and €10,000 for future suffering.

Clive Haevey of Slane, County Meath, has been awarded €32,000 for injuries sustained when a dog ran out in front of his motorbike, causing him to crash. Mr Heavey was knocked unconscious and sustained two fractures to his skull.  The accident happened in March 1998 outside the Grangegeeth pub in Courty Meath.
The dog was a cross between an Alsatian and a Labrador.

The lawsuit for negligence and breach of duty claimed that the dog owner, Richard McKenna, had failed to control or supervise his dog and was not in compliance with the provisions of the 1986 Control of Dogs Act.

Mr Justice Kearns of the High Court heard the case and noted that while Mr Heavey had made a good recovery he had suffered a ‘very frightening experience”.

The family of Miriam Jackson of Navan, County Meath, has received a €564,000 High Court settlement following her death in September 2004 in Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan, two weeks after being admitted with a small bowel obstruction. The case was taken by her husband, Derek Jackson, who also sued on behalf of his three children for damages for the loss of Mrs Jackson and the resulting mental distress. The lawsuit outlined over twenty claims of medical negligence and hospital negligence – mostly an unfortunate list of ignored symptoms. It was alleged that that urine analysis results were ignored – results that found an E coli infection and therefore septicemia was allowed develop and go untreated for a significant period of time. It was alleged that Mrs Jackson complained of abdominal pain and was feverish. It was claimed that her rising temperature was ignored by the surgical team. It was alleged that a medical consultation requested by the surgical registrar did not take place, despite multiple symptoms, including a temperature of 38.2 degrees, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and light-headednes.
The hospital admitted liability in the case, so the High Court case under Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill was only to determine the amount of compensation.

Mr. Terry Casey of Barna, Galway, a marketing lecturer at the School of Business in Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, has created a legal landmark in Ireland with the first ever civil libel case where the medium was email.

The libel case was taken over an email with attachments that we sent to  staff in January 2005 that was sent by Larry Elwood and then resent by Deirdre Lusby, both department heads in the college.

Mr. Casey claimed an assault on his “reputation, integrity and good name”.

The two lecturers apologised to Mr. Casey in a public letter read out in the High Court that “withdraw the imputations and unreservedly and publicly apologise” .  The settlement amount was not revealed in court but it is believed to be a six figure amount in addition to costs.

It is not known at this stage if GMIT will take disciplinary action against the two lecturers.  This would be normal procedure in the private sector but perhaps not in higher education.